By Abel Kolawole

Those attacking the candidate  of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State in the 2015 polls, Olorogun Otega Emerhor, have been cautioned by Dr. Fred Latimore Oghenesivbe, a lawyer, who says they should stop casting aspersion on the reputation of Emerhor.

“Some members of the APC Itsekiri group took it upon themselves to use the NDDC Board nomination by Mr President to gamble with the enviable reputation of our leader. Very unfortunate”, Oghenesivbe said in a statement.

“These young men threw caution to the wind and went all out to cast aspersion, used derogatory words to describe the person and character of a perfect gentleman and a level headed leader who spent huge financial resources, time, talents and energy to build the APC in Delta State”.

According to him, the attackers’ grouse is borne out of the nomination of Engr Adjogbe Samuel as Executive Director (Projects) of NDDC by President Muhammadu Buhari. He went on: “They are of the opinion that an Itsekiri Engineer ought to be nominated by Mr President, pointing accusing fingers at Olorogun Emerhor as the master-mind of the nomination of Engr Adjogbe.

“These young men who perhaps were in kindergarten while Emerhor was already managing commercial banks displayed crude passion for tribalism, nepotism and ethnicity and in the process hauled insults and abuses on our highly respected great leader, astute politician, business tycoon and first class  accounting graduate of the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

“What is really funny about their wild post on social media against Emerhor is that they described him as ineffective and a failed leader. They went further to defame our amiable state party leader by calling for his replacement. Laughable!

“For the purpose of justice, equity and good conscience, I want to lay bare before the public the following facts about the leadership of Olorogun Otega Emerhor in Delta APC :

(1) As at the time Emerhor took it upon himself to fund and popularize the party in Delta, those calling for his replacement were having fun with PDP, its leaders and top government officials. Emerhor was available working for APC.

(2) As at the time Emerhor got the party’s gubernatorial ticket to run for the office of governor of Delta State, these young men, majority of them less than 30 years old, were errand boys to PDP chieftains in Delta State.

(3) As at the time Emerhor was putting structures in place, recruiting staff and consultants to develop strategic campaign and mass media publicity to further publicize the APC in Delta State, these wine loving young men were busy promoting a PDP aspirant for the office of Governor of Delta State.

(4) As at the time Emerhor hit the streets of Delta campaigning on ground and via the mass media with super campaign slogans, taking APC daily to homes, towns and communities, these disco dancing young men were busy rocking Michael Jackson hit songs in Warri and Asaba nite clubs.

(5) As at the time Emerhor was busy campaigning for President Muhammadu Buhari round the state during the 2015 general elections, these professional agitators were busy campaigning for President Goodluck Jonathan.

(6) As at the time Emerhor was busy having sleepless nights with his campaign key staff making preparations to receive President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in Delta State, these same licensed government accredited agitators were busy working day and night to receive President Goodluck Jonathan in Delta State.

“These crude and arrogant agitators waited until their presidential candidate lost out shamefully during the 2015 general elections before hurriedly defecting to APC and immediately commenced expensive lobby for the NDDC EDP position but Mr President said NO. Instead, President Muhammadu Buhari nominated Engr Adjogbe Samuel. This is the sin of Otega Emerhor. This is the reason why they want Olorogun Otega Emerhor removed and banished from APC”.